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THE roENTIFICATION GUH)E SERffiS: AN OVERVIEW (PART TWO) by Mark Lynch This is the second article in a series of three in which I review the books generally referred to as the "Identification Guides." In the first article I gave an overview and history of the series as well as a review of the first three releases in the series on seabirds, shorebirds, and waterfowl. In this article I review later releases in the series given in the order of their publication, many of which are not well known to the average birder in North America. In the third installment I will review the Pica Press series of "Identification Guides." Swallows and Martins: An Identification Guide and Handbook by Angela Turner, illustrated by Chris Rose. 1989. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston. Swallows and Martins seems like an odd choice for the next volume in the Helm Identification Guide Series. As a group, swallows do not present the identification challenges that pelagics or shorebirds do. Indeed, there are only seventy-four species of swallows in the world. With the publishing of this book, I believe the Helm Identification Guide Series more clearly defined its goals—namely, to not just produce world level field guides, but to create a series of monographs of birds that have rarely been dealt with completely. Although the identification details in both the plates and text are still top notch, each book in the series from this title on contains more written information on behavior, taxonomy, and others. Because U.S. birders do not consider swallows as glamorous as, for example, raptors, many birders are not familiar with this book. This is a shame because this is one of the most thorough and beautiful books in the entire series. From the cover art through the plates, the illustrations are elegant, detailed, and alive. Because there are so few species to be dealt with, the plates are uncrowded, with lots of bits of background included. Maybe it is the natural "jizz" of swallows, but many of the birds pictured seem ready to flit off the page. The written part of Swallows and Martins is likewise superb. The introductory chapters on morphology, plumage, classification, and behavior are longer and more informative than in other books in the series. Species writeups are more detailed and subheadings include the following: field characters, habitat, distribution and population, migration, foraging and food, social organization, sociosexual behavior, breeding, description, measurements, and races. To give you an idea of the completeness of the text, four densely printed pages are devoted to just the Tree Swallow. Although Swallows and Martins will never be commonly used as an identification guide, it is an important reference work that contains much BIRD OBSERVER 204 Vol. 24, No. 4, 1996 information on even familiar species that will be new to the reader. Travelers to Africa, Asia, South America, and Australia will of course find it an important source for pretrip research. Mostly, this is a book that by its well-written text and sheer beauty of its plates makes us look again at a group of birds that we often ignore. Kingfishers, Bee-Eaters, and Rollers by C. Hilary Fry and Kathy Fry, illustrated by Alan Harris. 1992. Princeton University Press. Of all the books in the Helm Identification Guide Series, this title is probably of the least interest and use to birders who have not traveled outside North America. There are only three species of kingfishers in North America, and only one is widespread. Needless to say, there are no bee-eaters or rollers in the ABA area. The 123 species covered by this book are portrayed in forty color plates. The illustrations are excellent, almost as good as the plates in Swallows and Martins. Of all the books in the series up to this point, the species shown in Kingfishers, Bee- Eaters, and Rollers are certainly the most exotic looking, with their colorful plumage and unique jizz. There is a high degree of island endemism in the kingfishers, especially in the southeast Asian and South Pacific areas. This makes Kingfishers, Bee-Eaters, and Rollers a pleasure for "armchair" birders who like to dream of exotic birds in faraway places. The choice of only dealing with kingfishers, bee-eaters, and rollers as the subject for this book is a bit strange. The order, Coraciiformes, also contains the todies, motmots, ground rollers, and the monotypic family of the cuckoo-roller. Coraciiformes is divided into two suborders of Alcedini and Corachii. Families were included and excluded from this book from both of the suborders. The species excluded do not number that many (eighteen), and I wish they had been included for completeness sake. The format of the book follows that of previous titles, although the introductory chapters are more detailed. These include a concise but thorough explanation of the characters and relationships of the Coraciiformes, and good general notes on food, foraging and nesting, and social and breeding behavior. As can be imagined, birds this unique in plumage and distribution do not require the detailed plumage accounts of other groups of birds with many easily confused species. The written information is excellent, although sometimes spare, and includes full accounts of many poorly known and underdescribed species. Particularly well done is the complete illustrating and description of the huge Mangrove Kingfisher complex. There is no doubt that Kingfishers, Bee-Eaters, and Rollers is an important contribution to ornithological literature but will be of very limited interest to the birder who does not stray from North America. This book also contains many wonderful illustrations of some of the most interesting, elegant, and beautiful birds of the world. BIRD OBSERVER 205 Vol. 24, No. 4, 1996 Crows and Jays: A Guide to the Crows, Jay, and Magpies o f the World by Steve Madge, illustrated by Hilary Bum. 1994. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston. Madge and Burn are the same team that wrote Waterfowl. This slim volume is an interesting addition to the series. The forty color plates illustrate the 120 species for consideration. The artwork is very good but lacks the drama and beauty of Swallows and Martins and even Kingfishers, Bee-Eaters, and Rollers. The plates are well designed and are not overcrowded. Actually, Hilary Burn does a good job with an unenviable task—illustrating the world’s crows. The taxonomy of Crows and Jays generally follows the then new work of Sibley, Ahlquist, and Monroe. The species for consideration were formerly included in the family Corvidae and are now relegated to the tribe Corvini within the subfamily Corvinae of the family Corvidae. Other tribes in this subfamily include the Paradisaeni (birds of paradise); Artamini (butcherbirds, currawongs, and woodswallows), and Oriolini (Old World orioles, minivets, and cuckoo shrikes). The format of Crows and Jays remains true to the format of the series by starting with some short introductory chapters including conservation, relationships, and origins. This section is less informative than in the last two books in the series, which I found disappointing. The species accounts are excellent and thorough. The Banggai Crow from a small island in the Sulawesi and previously known from only two specimens is fully described here for the first time. It is not known whether this bird still exists. Of more local interest, I found the discussion on the problems of the taxonomy and identification of American Crows to be very enlightening. It is interesting that the Northwestern Crow is labeled "one of North America's most controversial bird species" (and I thought it was the Cox's Sandpiper). Crows and Jays is a fine addition to the Identification Guide Series. Although many birders will find it not as critical to own as Shorebirds or Seabirds, it does contain much information of interest to birders of the Americas. Finches and Sparrows: An Identification Guide by Peter Clement, illustrated by Alan Harris and John Davis. 1993. Princeton University Press. This book focuses on the bird families Fringillidae, Estrildidae, and Passeridae. It does not cover what we in North America call "sparrows." A whopping 290 species are illustrated in 73 color plates, including four full plates of Australian finches and nineteen plates for Just the "African finches." Although the plates are somewhat crowded, they are well laid out, and the artwork is of the usual high standard of the series. The introductory chapters are minimal but do include a full page map of mountain ranges and principal lakes of the eastern Palearctic, where a number of the more interesting and little known species treated in this book are found. The species accounts are very complete. The written section ranks as one of the best BIRD OBSERVER 206 Vol. 24, No. 4, 1996 and most detailed in the series. Particularly outstanding are the accounts and illustrations of little known species such as the snow finches or real rarities such as the Sao Tome Grosbeak. Of course, all the species we in North America refer to as finches are included in this book. Clement still lists four species of crossbills: White­ winged or Two-barred {Loxia leucoptera). Red or Common {L. curvirostra), Scottish (L. scotia), and Parrot (L. pytyopsittacus). He admits that the latter three may be a dine of forms. There is an excellent discussion of the problems of separating these three "un-barred" species of crossbill in the field. The Hoary Redpoll maintains its species level status, but the problems of separating this species in the field from pale forms of Common Redpoll are very completely presented. As of the writing of Finches and Sparrows, the rosy finch complex had not been resplit, and so Leucostiete tephrocotis, L.

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